


The Mystery Crush

by itsallAvengers



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Oblivious Tony Stark, Pining Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers has the patience of a Goddamned Saint, Tony Stark Is More Dense Than A Brick, Yes I wrote another Highschool Au I just love them so much, but he's doing his best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-09 00:16:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13469658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsallAvengers/pseuds/itsallAvengers
Summary: A smitten Steve Rogers, a ridiculously oblivious Tony Stark, and a highschool setting





	The Mystery Crush

**Author's Note:**

> For Jay

 

There were a few things you needed to know about Tony Stark before you started a conversation with him.

 

The first thing was that he was very, very smart. And not simply in a school setting- the boy was a genius. A solving-the-problems-of-the-world-before-graduating-highschool sort of genius. He could run verbal rings around you until you were too dizzy to respond and then walk off before you even knew what to do with yourself. He didn’t even  _mean_ to do it, most times- his mind simply worked at a different pace to anyone else, and he jumped from point A to Z so quickly that no-one even had the chance to get their head around point B before he was off on another tangent again. This could be difficult to deal with, especially if you were new to the Ways of Tony Stark. Although in his opinion, it wasn’t  _that_ bad- despite what some of his more asshole friends (Bucky) tried to tell him, he didn’t warrant a ‘warning’ sign to be carried with him at all times, thank you very much. 

The second thing about Tony Stark was that he was very, very stupid.   
Of course, he would deny this to his dying day- someone who had been disassembling cars by six years old could in no way be defined as stupid, obviously. Except his friends seemed to think otherwise. Apparently- and this was from Pepper’s mouth, not his- he was ‘dense, emotionally stunted and so far up your own ass some days I wonder if you’ll ever see anything past your nose’.   
Now this was cruel and slanderous and untrue- Tony was in no way… any of that. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t as in touch with his feelings as he probably  _could_ be (Thank daddy dearest for that one), and perhaps he wasn’t… quite as good at reading people as he so often claimed he was, but come on! He was a growing boy, not everything was going to be instantly perfect. And there was no one else in any given room who could build a computer with a blindfold on, so hah. Who’s the dumb one now, Miss Potts?

The third thing- and probably the most important thing- about Tony Stark, was that his friends were the most important thing in his life. No word of a lie- he’d been through a hell of a lot on his short sixteen years on earth, and it made him stupidly, ridiculously grateful that his pile of idiot friends had been around for him to lean on when he needed it. They weren’t exactly popular, per se, but there were a lot of them. They were open to let anyone sit and join them, or befriend anyone who needed it, and Tony  _loved_ that about them. Loved the little corner of human kindness that they always liked to extend to others. It was a breath of fresh air, considering what he was used to at home. Kindness had been considered a rarity before all of them had come along.

 

Well. Before Steve had come along, at least

 

He’d been skinny as a rake when he’d first introduced himself to Tony (although now he was fast reaching quarterback proportions and had the good looks of one too, which was terribly unfair, considering Tony hadn’t grown past 5′6 in all their years of knowing one another and was still in the more… awkward stage of his teenage years); walking around with a shock of blonde hair, ridiculously blue eyes and bony fingers that had held firm onto his own as they’d shaken hands. Tony had been sat alone in the corner of the cafeteria at the time, trying to keep his head down and avoid the stupid group of older boys who’d been interested in the new kid and what exactly was in his bag, and when he’d seen Steve walking over to him, he had to admit that he’d put his guard up rather quickly.

Steve, of course, because he was Steve, had been nothing short of perfect for the entire conversation, until eventually inviting him to sit at their table five minutes later. And from then on- well, the rest was history.

Anyway. Yes. Friends. Very important to him. Not just Steve, obviously- he wasn’t sure why he’d gone on that internal rant about him in particular- but everyone else too. Pepper and Rhodey and Nat and, hell, even Bucky- not that he’d ever be caught dead admitting that one, thank you very much. They were all priorities, in Tony’s mind- and awkward and seemingly harmless as he may have looked, there was no way you would ever get away with hurting one of his friends without him doing something dramatic and awesome to them in response. And he knew they’d do the same thing for him too, which was definitely just as awesome.

Thick as thieves, that was what they all were. They knew everything about one another- he and Steve in particular were notoriously bad at keeping things from eachother, considering they spent a good 80% of their time together anyway. 

 

This was why, when Tony found out on a Monday morning via overhearing Bucky whispering to Clint that Steve-  _his_ Steve, his best friend who told him everything ever in the history of things to tell- had a whole entire crush he’d been keeping secret for  _months_ , he was rather offended.

 

“I’m rather offended,” he declared as his greeting, and Steve turned to glance at him when he barrelled his way over, an eyebrow raised in half-amusement.

“What happened now?” He asked wearily, shoulder brushing with Tony’s once they began making their way down the corridor, “did Bucky give you decaf again?”

Tony frowned indignantly. “Far more serious than that, Steven, I’m offended by  _you_ , personally, as a person who is supposed to be my best friend in the whole wide universe.”

He heard Steve sigh, a very small Monday-morning smile creasing his face. “Oh goodness, I’m feeling the guilt already. How, pray tell, did I wrong you this time?”

Tony glared at him. “You have a crush and you didn’t tell me.”

He had to stop walking when Steve jerked to a sudden halt, eyes widening as he turned to Tony. Steve blinked at him a few times before snapping out of the initial shock and then beginning to walk again, a little faster this time. “No I don’t, who told you- was it Bucky, Jesus, I’m gonna kill h-”

“No one told me,” Tony interrupted, hefting his bag a little further up his shoulder and staring mutinously upward at Steve, “I overheard Bucky and Clint talking about ‘how unbelievable it is that ‘he’ hasn’t noticed Steve’s ridiculously large crush yet, and whether or not ‘he’ ever will.’ So fess up, Steve, who is it? Who’s the ‘He’?”

“There- there is no ‘he’, Tony, they’re just… being stupid,” Steve shook his head, and there was a definite redness about his cheeks when Tony turned to glare at him. Steve didn’t look up from the floor, and Tony watched him swallow in the way he always did when he was nervous. 

Tony pouted harder, wrapping his arm around Steve’s and clinging. “Steeeeeve,” he moaned, poking the other boy’s cheek. Perhaps he could annoy the boy into confessing the truth. “Who’s your cruuushhh-”

“Tony,” Steve shook his head and bit his lip, a small smile playing around his face as he finally glanced down and over to him, “there’s… I don’t have a crush. It’s not-” he broke off when his eyes flicked down, and then there was a frown creasing his face suddenly. He picked up Tony’s hand and then raised it to eye-level, sighing. “What did you do this time?”

Tony paused, before realizing Steve was talking about the various band-aids and bandages Tony had wrapped haphazardly around his fingers. He shrugged, then, flicking Steve in the nose. “Same thing that happened the first hundred times. Me and safety don’t mix.”

Steve eyed him, unimpressed; gentle fingers tracing one of the bandages for a moment before he sucked in a quick breath and then dropped it gently. “Wish you did,” he muttered, “one day you’re gonna kill yourself in that lab, Tony.”

“Are you trying to change the subject on me?” Tony asked quickly, and Steve shut his eyes, looking to the ceiling like it would help him. When Tony picked something to fixate on, though, there was no hope of removing him from the subject. No God could save Steve now.

“I don’t have a-”

“You totally do though.”

“Tony, it’s not important-”

“It is to me, we tell eachother everything! Why are you keeping this secret, it’s not like I’m gonna tell them or something. Is it an embarrassing one? Is it- is it in our group? Ohhh, that would be dramatic. Are they attached? Is it unrequited? Do you-”

“ _Tony_ ,” Steve said, sharper this time. Tony stopped his verbal thought-process with a sharp clack of his mouth, raising his eyebrows at Steve’s tone. “It’s not important, and yes, it is unrequited, so can we please drop it?”

Tony was silent for a second, and Steve looked firmly ahead of him rather than anywhere in Tony’s general vicinity as they walked down together. Eventually, Tony just sighed, shrugging. “Whatever. You don’t wanna tell me, that’s fine.”

Steve sighed. “Tony, come on, don’t be like that-”

“No no,” Tony raised his hands, extracting his arm from Steve’s and then walking on further ahead, “my bad, I should have realised our entire friendship was a sham to start with, silly me, of course Steve would rather tell notorious blabbermouth Clint Barton about his crush than long-time best friend Tony Stark, that’s completely understandable-”

“Tony-”

“I’ll start looking around for new best friends, seeing as that post is now apparently available,” Tony turned around and raised a hand, storming off haughtily into his class and leaving Steve behind him. He heard the beginning of an annoyed groan, but shut the door behind him before it could finish, searching for Rhodey amongst the crowds of kids. 

Yeah, Tony was definitely offended by that, he decided adamantly as he stormed over to Rhodey’s side. “Platypus, I’ve just been undermined and hurt, and I need you to help me.”

Rhodey turned to him. “It’s first period on Monday,” he said incredulously, “how the hell did that happen so fast?”

“Steve is refusing to tell me who the apparent love of his life is even though Bucky and Clint already know,” Tony moaned, pouting, “he’s being annoying.  _I_  tell  _him_  everything. Even my stupid stuff, like that time I woke up and still thought I was dreaming so I threw myself down the stairs because I thought I could fly-”

He trailed off when he caught the look Rhodey was giving- sort of a mix between despair and amusement. “Man, I feel bad for him,” he said with a shake of his head, “in his defense though, you were never supposed to know about y- his crush at all. Who blabbed? My money’s on Clint-”

“Wait, you know too?” Tony spluttered, horrified, “how the hell- who is it? Why isn’t he telling me? What do you mean-”

“Tony, I think that until he’s ready to talk about- them- you should just drop it,” Rhodey clapped him on the shoulder and sat down in his seat, pulling out his books from the bottom of his bag. Tony stared at him for another few seconds, before sighing loudly and then clattering into the seat next to him.

Mondays sucked. 

“You coming over to Sam’s tonight?” Rhodey asked in an attempt to change the subject, and Tony shook his head morosely, not looking up from where his head was squashed against the desk.

“Gotta get my braces tightened,” he mumbled, shuddering. God, he hated those damn things- his mouth always ached like a bitch afterwards.  
But whatever. One day they’d get taken off, and by that time he’d have grown five inches and also got rid of all his stupid teenage pimples, and then he’d be complete Cassanova, just watch.

He wondered what Steve’s mystery crush looked like. Probably super hot- Steve had good standards, and after all his stupid growing and puberty, he could probably get nearly anyone he wanted. When he told Rhodey that much, the other boy just shook his head. It looked like he was holding back a laugh.

Tony scowled.  _Rhodey_ knew who it was, and  _he_ didn’t? 

Well. Not for long. He intended to find out.

 

* * *

 

Sidling up to Steve on the table as everyone ate lunch, he sat in his usual spot by Steve’s left and smiled over to him when the boy looked his way. Steve returned it, if a little warily, and then turned back to the burger he was eating a second later.

Tony studied him for a moment, before turning to the table. “Purely out of curiosity,” he said loudly, making all his friends look up, “if all of you could date anyone in the whole school, who would it be?”

By his side, he heard Steve sigh, but everyone else just grinned mischievously.  “Well,” Clint began, sitting a little straighter, “I don’t know about any of you guys, but Miss Hill is totally hot-”

“Ew!” The rest of the table shouted, throwing various pieces of food Clint’s way. “Miss Hill is like a robot anyway,” Sam told him, making a face, “I’m not entirely sure she’s capable of human emotion.”

“You don’t need to be capable of human emotion to be a great lay,” Natasha said with a shrug, looking down at her nails, “take me, for example.”

“Oh yeah, ‘cause you’re totally emotionless,” Bruce piped up with a roll of his eyes, “you were crying when we watched Toy Story, don’t lie.”

“Anyway-” Bucky added, “we’re not even talking about just fucking. We’re talking relationships. And seeing as I’m already in one, I’ll begrudgingly admit Natasha is… bearable.”

“Love you too, babe,” Natasha patted him on the cheek without looking away from her nails, and Bucky rolled his eyes, but there was no denying the fondness in his face.

“Steve?” Tony turned to his left then, leaning in on one elbow so he was inches away from Steve’s face, grinning, “what about you? Anyone you want, in the whole entire school? Who’s it gonna be?”

Steve looked down at him, resembling a rabbit caught in the headlights as he opened and shut his mouth a few times. “I… well, I mean,” he began, blinking rapidly, “uhhhh-”

“Man, this is actively painful to watch,” he heard Bucky mutter from behind him, and he whipped around, glaring at him in irritation. Just because  _he_ knew, and so he didn’t have to worry about it. And yes, okay, perhaps Tony was overreacting  _slightly_ over this whole thing- but he just couldn’t understand it, okay? How come everyone else got to know and he didn’t? Was Steve secretly getting tired of him or something? Did he not want to be as close to Tony anymore?

Yes, that was stupid. He was stupid, alright? Maybe Pepper was right about that one.

“What about you then, Tony?” Natasha asked suddenly, and Tony let his eyes slide off Steve’s panicked ones, “if  _you_ could pick someone, who’d it be?”

He was well aware she was stalling for Steve, and part of him wanted to just ignore her and continue his staring down of the boy next to him- but Steve didn’t look as if he was about to reveal anything any time soon, and he supposed it was  _kind of_  unfair to put him on the spot like that. So he turned, facing her instead, and tried to think of a name in his head.

“Thor, obviously,” he came up with in the end, shrugging- because there was no denying that boy was  _fine_ , “have you seen those shoulders? Damn. Plus the whole blonde hair, blue-eyes thing. I dig it.”

Everyone was staring, and then a collective sigh went around the table. “And he calls himself a genius,” Natasha commented absently, right to his face.

Tony made a face. “What’s wrong with that? Thor’s hot shit, come on!”

Bucky opened his mouth, but then a projectile hit him in the face and he jerked, glaring across at Steve. Tony caught the tail end of a sharp head-jerk, and narrowed his eyes. Steve turned back to him, and then swallowed again. His face looked tight. “I- uh, I need to go pee,” he said, standing up quickly. He kept his eyes fixed on the table, “I’ll be right back.”

And then he was just… gone. Walking quickly through the crowds, Tony watched with a thoroughly confused look on his face. Because Steve definitely wasn’t going to the bathroom- he always went before lunch, and don’t ask why Tony knew that, he just did- so it was obviously to get away from them. Him. Whatever.

“What did I do?” Tony asked in confusion, turning around to the table.

Everyone was looking at him, but it was Sam who finally spoke. “I think you should just drop the whole ‘crush’ thing, Tony,” he said in the end, “I think it’s a pretty sensitive subject for him.”

“But-” Tony began, before biting his lip and looking down for a moment. He pushed down the little flare of hurt at being kept out of things, and then just nodded slightly. “Yeah,” he sighed, “okay.”

He turned back to his food and moved it around with his fork a bit whilst everyone was awkwardly silent around him. He felt like they were having wordless conversations over his head, but didn’t bother looking up.   
They probably wouldn’t tell him anyway.

Which was fine. Steve didn’t want to tell him something and that was fine. Steve had to leave because Tony had made him uncomfortable, rather than just tell him to shut the fuck up like he usually did, and that was fine too.

Fine fine fine fine fine fine.

 

* * *

 

When Steve had been fourteen years old and still a skinny rake of a boy, Tony had had to pull him out of a pretty violent fight between him and Schmidt’s lot- a bunch of guys who got kicks out of bullying other kids.

He hadn’t exactly been preparing for it. In fact, it was damn lucky he’d been there at all. It just so happened that he’d been kept back a few minutes after school by his English teacher, and then took a detour around the back of the school in order to get down to the bus faster. He’d caught Steve just as he was getting his stomach punched by the biggest of the guys.

Of course, when Tony said ‘pull him out’ he was speaking in pretty loose terms. In reality, what had really happened was Tony saw Steve being hurt and kind of flipped out, barrelling over toward them all with a fierce curse and then ramming his foot into the guy punching Steve, sending him rolling across the concrete. 

 

It hadn’t lasted long; neither he nor Steve were exactly fit for a fight, and Tony had lost his glasses halfway through, essentially blinding him in one eye. They both ended up getting the shit kicked out of them- but hell, Tony was still glad he’d been there. At least it had meant he’d halved the number of punches Steve got; even if that spare half ended up on his face instead. 

He remembered, though, that when he’d turned to Steve and asked why the hell he’d gotten himself involved with Schmidt’s gang, Steve hadn’t even wavered when he’d said “they’d been planning to jump you on your way out from school. I just jumped them first,” and Tony had realized that whilst he’d been happy to take half of Steve’s punches for him, it turned out the only reason he’d had to do that at all was because Steve had decided to take  _all_ the punches for Tony first.

Not that Tony wouldn’t happily take a million punches for Steve. An infinite amount. He was merely stating the fact that they  _shared_ things. Had done from the get-go. Food, clothes, secrets, they were just… that’s just what they did.

 

So this behavior thoroughly confused Tony. In fact, all Steve’s behavior since Tony had discovered he had a crush, over a week ago now, was confusing. And slightly worrying.

Because Steve was avoiding him.

 

And Steve never avoided him. Ever. They argued- oh hell did they argue, but that was… it was  _instead_ of avoiding each other. They argued and then stormed off and then usually apologized like an hour later, and that was that. Back to normal. The longest amount of time they’d spent ignoring one another was a week, and that was only because Tony had accidentally knocked himself unconscious in the lab and then Steve had walked in to find him lying there looking a little bit dead. That one had been slightly messy, but hey, they’d worked it out!

So yeah. This sort of… slyly being in different places whenever Tony was around was definitely concerning. And he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t making all five hundred of his different neuroses head straight into overdrive mode.

He didn’t know what he’d  _done_. And really, at this point, he was terrified to bring it up and make it worse. It couldn’t have been the whole Crush thingy, right? Tony had let it drop. It had stung a little, but he’d let it drop. And yet- that’s when Steve had started getting a little distant.   
It couldn’t have been personal stuff either. Tony knew about all his personal stuff- he knew what set Steve off and how he acted and this wasn’t it. This was- it was different. Specific. To Tony- or at least it damn well felt like it.

“It’s in your head,” Clint told him with a shake of his head, “Steve’s just busy right now.”

Tony would’ve argued- would’ve explained that Steve had been busy before, but it had never meant he’d not been around to walk with Tony after school or sit with him in the library like he usually did- but in the end, he just kept his mouth shut and agreed. Clint didn’t really… get it. Because to everyone else, that wouldn’t mean anything. And it felt stupid, saying ‘but Steve always walks home with me!’ That just wasn’t a big deal to anyone else.

It was to Tony. He wasn’t sure why, it was just… it was  _their_ time. Tony needed some Steve-Only hours in his day; his brain went all off-whack if the routine got messed up. He was very particular about his routine. Steve  _knew_ he was particular about his routine- Tony had spent an hour after school waiting for him the first time around, only to open his phone and see a message from Steve saying he’d needed to rush home and he couldn’t meet Tony after all. 

It had been weird. 

And- well, yeah. Not just that. He’d just been sort of… funny. Whispering hurriedly to Bucky and the others, looking slightly anxious, and then shutting up as soon as Tony came near. Tensing up whenever Tony put a hand on him.   
He didn’t know what he’d done, and it was freaking him the hell out. He wanted things to go back to normal. He was… well, he was panicking a little.

 

And a surefire result of Tony panicking was Tony doing something stupid as a result. Like throwing a massive party at his house and inviting half the school to it. Obviously.

 

“This is a panic-party, isn’t it,” Rhodey didn’t ask, he stated, sidling up to Tony with a beer in his hand.

Tony opened his mouth, ready to argue- but Rhodey had known him for too long for Tony to even begin trying to lie to him, so in the end he just sighed and nodded glumly.  “Steve’s been avoiding me,” he said, like that explained things.

Luckily, to Rhodey, it did. He nodded sagely, sighing a little and linking their arms together. The room was full of kids who Tony didn’t really know- but who’d heard about his party through word of mouth, and so had trundled up to his mansion with high expectations. And hey- never say Tony didn’t deliver; everyone was having a great time. His dad would probably scream himself hoarse when he got back from Monaco and found out, but whatever. He was always screaming.

He missed Steve. It had been a week and he missed Steve already.

“The rest of us have taken refuge in your room,” Rhodey informed him, “most of the group’s there. Steve included. We’re pretty drunk and playing stupid games, come join us.”

“Are you inviting me into my own room?”

“Yes.”

Tony straightened up a little and then shrugged. “Fair enough. Let’s go, honeybear.”

Grinning down at him fondly, Rhodey tugged them out of the room and directed them up the stairs. Tony just followed, still a little glum. When he got there, Steve would undoubtedly be sandwiched between two people, making sure there was no room for Tony. Which- which was such a stupid thing to get upset over, really, but here he was. Upset anyway. 

Yeah, he’d had a bit to drink too. It always made his head more…jumpy.

When Rhodey pushed open the door to his room, Tony saw eight other people, all squashed in a circle on his bed. It was the usual offenders- Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, Natasha, Bruce- and then they’d apparently managed to corral Thor and his girlfriend into the mix too, which was cool. Thor and Jane were awesome.

“I didn’t give any of you permission to enter my room, did you not see the big ‘do not enter’ sign I stuck on the door?” Tony flopped into the middle of the circle, landing in Clint’s lap and blinking up at him, unimpressed.

Clint shrugged and flicked him on the head. “We don’t ever listen to anything you say or do, Tony, come on.” He dodged the arm that flailed in the direction of his face and pushed Tony upright, shuffling up a bit to make room for him.

Tony crawled into the space, grinning over to Thor on his right and then curling his knees up to his chest. He glanced at Steve, and noticed the other boy was already looking at him, eyes flicking between him and Thor before looking down into his hands and staying there. 

He took a small breath and turned away. It was nothing. All fine. He was overthinking it. “What are we playing?” He asked lightly, shooting a smile around the circle.

“Truth or dare,” Natasha said with a smirk, and Tony rolled his eyes in response, because really? They were a bunch of sixteen-year-olds, and they were playing truth or dare? “Oh, don’t give us that look, Tony, we’re all three tequila shots in and it seemed like a good idea. Now, who’s turn is it?”

It was apparently Jane’s, and she chose truth. Tony discovered they’d put a twist on the game, however- Jane had to spin a bottle upon deciding whether she wanted truth or dare, and whoever it landed on had to ask her the question or declare the dare. It ended up with Clint, who asked her, for some reason, if she’d ever kissed a girl before.

She raised an eyebrow at him, taking an innocent sip of her beer. “More than you have, that’s for sure,” was how she answered, which Clint tried to argue against, but was overruled by the rest of the group on the grounds that it was technically all numbers over 2, and so was entirely valid as an amount.

The next person was Steve, who debated for a moment before shooting a wary look in Bucky’s direction and saying “Truth.” He leaned forward and spun the bottle quickly, and everyone watched it go around and around for a few seconds before it finally came to half right in front of-

Tony. Ah.

Steve’s eyes widened a little, and his mouth opened as he jerked his head up. He looked- fuck, he looked  _scared_ \- and that felt like a bit of a kick in the chest, because really, Tony knew everything about Steve at this point, so the only thing he must have been so desperate to hide was his stupid crush that had started all this mess.

Tony was quickly beginning to despise the person responsible for Steve’s infatuation. 

Tony looked at him, and Steve looked back. “Pass it on,” Tony muttered in the end, looking away, “I already know everything I want to know about him, so just- spin again.”

There were a few raised eyebrows around the circle; most having been expecting Tony to jump on the chance at finding out once and for all who Steve’s mystery man was. But Tony wasn’t going to  _make_ Steve tell him- if he didn’t feel comfortable letting him know, fine. It didn’t fucking matter. It was just a secret.

It didn’t hurt, seeing Steve look at him with that level of fucking panic, just at the thought of Tony knowing the guy that Steve was apparently deeply in love with. It really- he was fine with it.

“Alright then, I’ll ask,” Bucky said quickly, wry grin pulling up onto his face as he turned to Steve, “If you had the choice between banging Leonardo Di Caprio from Titanic era, or Angelina Jolie from Mr. and Mrs. Smith, who would you pick?”

Steve wrinkled his nose, turning to his friend with a raised hand. “Why does everything have to be sexual with you?”

“Steve, it’s  _truth or dare,”_ Sam said, making a face, “everything about it becomes sexual. That’s just the rules.”

Steve rolled his eyes, and when he answered, Tony mouthed the answer along with him, because of course he knew. “Why not both? That’s like asking to choose between breathing or eating food. I couldn’t just pick one without needing to know the other. For science,” he deadpanned seriously, the way he always did when he was saying something dirty. He shot a look over at Tony and grinned, and Tony was just happy to be acknowledged at all, so he beamed back. 

They settled into the game, going through a myriad of various dares and confessions, until fifteen minutes later when Thor left the room and came back bearing a tray full of shots. After that, it ended up descending a little. 

“I’m callin’ a dare!” Bucky said to the room, waving a finger and then sitting up from Natasha’s lap, “I’m callin’ a dare for… Tony!”

Tony raised himself up straight, sorting out his hoodie a little and then cracking his knuckles. “Hit me,” he said confidently, feeling the warmth of multiple shots swirl in his stomach and give him that little boost of Dutch courage he needed to face Bucky Barnes’ dares head-on.

Bucky gave him a long look, before a small grin curled across his mouth. Tony quickly felt the confidence fade into mild fear. “I dare you,” he declared, before his eyes slowly traveled around the circle and then landed right on Steve, “to kiss our boy Rogers over there for a minimum five seconds.”

 

There was a short silence throughout the bedroom, before everyone except Steve and Tony broke into whistles and cheering. Tony looked over to Steve, spotting him slowly turning a shade of bright red as he glared a look of death in Bucky’s direction. “Bucky, for fuck’s sake-”

“Hey, hey, can’t back outta a dare Stevie,” he said with a shrug, and then Sam clapped him on the back with a smile and added “it’s just a dare. Smooch him, Rogers.”

“Kiss kiss kiss!” Jane and Thor hollered, and Tony looked around them all with a roll of his eyes, waving a hand. It seemed Steve was becoming more and more flustered by the second, however; hunching his shoulders and looking stubbornly at the duvet as his ears burned crimson. Natasha nudged him with a sharp elbow, and when he looked up and saw Tony glancing at him expectantly, he pushed a tight smile onto his face. “Uh, guys, calm down-” 

“Come on,” Tony shuffled into the circle, sighing exasperatedly, “don’t make it weird.” He turned to Steve, shrugging. “It’s just a kiss. It doesn’t have to mean anything.” He figured Steve was probably embarrassed, but hey, Tony never backed down from dares, and most of the time, neither did Steve. It really was just a stupid kiss- it wasn’t going to make or break their friendship or anything.

When Steve still looked a little panicked, Tony reached out for his shoulder and grinned. “Look,” he said, shooting all his friends one last unimpressed glare before spinning back around to Steve, who had frozen with his eyes still staring at Tony’s mouth, “I’ll show you.”

 

And without further ado, he leaned in and pushed his mouth into Steve’s.

 

Now see- looking back with hindsight, this was probably one of those moments in which, had Pepper been present, would’ve resulted in a smack around the head and another rant about how much of a dense idiot he was. And worst of all, she would actually have been right this time.

Because as soon as Steve’s mouth touched his, something… happened.

 

For starters, the way Tony’s fingers were curled around Steve’s neck meant that he could feel the other boy’s heartbeat- currently skyrocketing at a quite frankly alarming pace. Tony felt Steve’s hands hover by his forearms for a fraction of a second, before settling around his wrists.

And then- and then Steve _went for it._

Totally. He leaned in, pulled Tony closer until he was flush against Steve’s chest. Pushed his mouth harder and swiped his tongue across Tony’s bottom lip and fuck, Tony felt himself shiver, the ridiculous need to moan almost overcoming him entirely.   
Steve could kiss.

Steve _could kiss_. And he was kissing  _Tony_ like that, his hands moving to curl into Tony’s hair, eyes shut and mouth almost desperate, and Tony was-  _Tony was kissing back_ , oh shit, how had his tongue found its way into his mouth, what the fuck-

Except he couldn’t… stop. It had been more than five seconds now, for sure, and the rest of his friends were all in the same room, undoubtedly staring right at them, but Tony didn’t even care. Tony… Tony wanted nothing more than to just keep going, to pull Steve into some dark corner and ask him what the hell else his mouth could do that Tony had never known before.

Oh God, he still hadn’t stopped kissing him.

Steve sucked in a sharp breath, taking the air right out of Tony’s mouth before breaking away sharply, stumbling back and landing on his ass outside the circle of their friends. It was so sudden, Tony nearly lost his balance and fell right on top of him. As it was, he just swayed dangerously for a moment before steadying himself, still kneeling in the middle of the circle.  
There was dead silence.

Steve was staring at him, breathing heavily. His mouth was wet, red, kiss-stained. Everything about him just… 

\- and suddenly, everything fell into place all at once in Tony’s head.   


Like an epiphany. It was obvious- the way Steve had refused to admit who his crush was, how he’d been avoiding Tony ever since. Hell, thinking about it now, it was the most obvious thing in the world. Just- fuck, just from the way Steve acted around him  _normally_ ; all the soft smiles and shy glances and… wow,  _how long had Steve-_

“I have to go,” Steve blurted, scrambling off the bed with his eyes everywhere except Tony. In less than three seconds, he’d vacated the room; yanking open the door with force and then practically running out of it without a second glance.

Tony looked at the space Steve had just left, feeling like he’d been caught up in a hurricane.

 

“Tony?” Someone- might have been Rhodey, he wasn’t sure- asked him, “you okay?”

“Of course he’s not okay, he’s having an awakening,” Natasha responded to his left.

“I,” Tony said blankly, staring at the door, “have just realized what a complete fucking  _idiot_ I am.”  
All this time. It had been him. Steve had liked him, and he’d been… God, he’d been such an  _ass_ -

Around the room, a round of cheering rose up. Bucky started clapping. “You should probably go after him,” he informed Tony wisely, “declare your love and everything.”

Tony looked over to him. “I don’t love him,” he said, and promptly, each cheering voice died down abruptly. He looked around them all, at their shocked faces, and his brow creased.

“Uhh,” Sam said, cocking his head, “yes you do, Tony.”

Tony opened his mouth, ready to argue- but he stopped himself. Because- because did he  _really_ not love Steve? Who was he even trying to kid here? He’d always seen Steve as a best friend, yeah, but maybe… maybe it was because he’d never even considered being able to have anything else.

And now. After that kiss. Now it was impossible for him to  _stop_ thinking about it. About how Steve tasted. Felt. How his eyes were so blue, and his hands so soft, and the way he laughed, and how unwaveringly  _kind_ he always was-

Fuck.

Did he love Steve?

“I…” Tony spluttered, looking down at his friends, “do I?”

“ _Yes_!” Everyone assured him, the cheers starting up once more.

Tony paused for a moment, fingertips brushing along where Steve’s mouth had been seconds ago. He could still feel the tingle. “Oh God, I’m in love with Steve,” he breathed quickly, revelation hitting him like a jet-engine on full power.

He loved Steve.  _Of course_  he loved Steve, it was the most obvious thing in the world. He would hate Steve to be with someone else. He didn’t like Steve being away from him. He’d pull the moon out of the sky just to see that boy smile and, and-

And he’d gone and let Steve run out the door.  
Because  _he was an idiot._

“Why are you still sat here?” Thor asked him, giving him a shove in the bed that sent him tumbling off the bed, “go after him!”

“Yeah, go on Tony!”

“Before he runs off and never returns!”

“Oh, shut up Clint, do be so fuckin’ dramatic, he’s probably just gone to brood in his attic-”

“You don’t know, he might be on the ferry as we sp-”

Tony didn’t hear the tail-end of Bucky and Clint’s argument; too busy scrambling up off the floor and throwing himself wildly in the direction of the door, shaky hands yanking at the handle. He ripped it open, and a second later he was gone, jumping down the stairs two at a time and making his way back to the main party downstairs. He didn’t know where Steve had gone- didn’t know what he was even going to do when he caught up with him- but Tony just knew he had to find him. Absolutely had to. The fate of the entire universe suddenly seemed to depend on this.

He jumped into the corridor, pushing past the clusters of people and searching for the familiar ratty hoodie and mess of blonde hair that needed a cut. Unfortunately, his height didn’t help, and there was no way in hell he was going to jump around like some deranged Jack-In-The-Box whilst he attempted to search for his Prince Charming before the clock struck midnight, or however the stupid fairytale meant, whatever, he was getting off topic-

“PEOPLE OF NEW YORK!” He yelled instead, barging his way into the kitchen and then scrambling onto the table at the center. Everyone stopped for a second, turning to look at him with a mixture of confusion and amusement. The music was banging in his eardrums. “I NEED TO ASK YOU A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION AND THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE MAY POSSIBLY DEPEND ON THIS.”

“What the fuck?” He heard someone whisper, but fuck it, this was his house and his party, if he wanted to stage a preaching, he damn well could.

“HAS ANYONE HERE SEEN STEVE ROGERS?” He asked, eyes searching the crowds. “TALL, BLONDE, BLUE EYES- SHOULDERS LIKE A QUARTERBACK, SMILE THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER AT A LOCAL CHARITY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE? HE JUST CAME DOWN THE STAIRS LIKE, TWO MINUTES AGO.”

There were some mutters around the room, but mostly head-shakes. Tony groaned. “THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! I NEED TO KISS HIM AND TELL HIM I’M STUPID AND ALSO IN LOVE WITH HIM BEFORE HE GETS AWAY, YOU GOTTA HELP ME OUT!”

More muttering now. “That’s some chick-flick level drama right there,” someone toward the front muttered, and then someone else called out and asked “How long ago did he leave?”

Tony sighed, putting his head in his hands. The room was mostly silent now, thanks to someone turning down the music, so he let his voice lower. “About a minute ago? He can’t have gotten far, Goddamn it-”

“Was he wearing a blue hoodie?” Someone near the back asked, and Tony whipped his head up, pointing a finger in their direction.

It was just some girl, stood in the corner between a group of her friends. Tony looked at her and then yanked out his phone, quickly getting up a picture and showing it in her direction. Everyone else in the room craned their heads to look too, a few of them pulling admiring faces and raising eyebrows. “You seen him?”

“I saw him ten minutes ago!” Someone yelled, somewhat unhelpfully. The girl he was looking at, though, nodded, a small smile beginning to form on her face. “He walked out through the back door. He was pulling out his wallet, so he’s probably waiting for a cab or someth-”

“THANK YOU ANGEL, COME BACK TO ME IN A DAY AND I WILL GIVE YOU A HUNDRED DOLLARS, I PROMISE!” He yelled, jumping into a space and then blowing a kiss across the room to the stranger. Everyone laughed and made a path for him, a few patting him on the back and cheering him on. He grinned back at the crowd, giving them all a salute, and watched as they raised their various drinks in farewell.

And then his hand was on the door, pulling it open and jumping into the cold air. He had a Steve Rogers who needed finding. And kissing. Many times.   
God, how the hell had he never realized this before? Pepper was right- he was so dense, he couldn’t even see his  _own_ feelings, never mind anyone else’s. He needed to buy her a lot of flowers and admit defeat on that one.

“STEVE!” He yelled, jumping up the stairs two at a time and then yanking open the gate at the back of his house. “STEVE, WAIT UP!”

Of course, there wasn’t a response. Damn, Tony really hoped he hadn’t found a cab already. Then he’d have to wait an extra fifteen minutes to get to Steve’s house, and right now that felt like an eternity. 

His feet hit tarmac as he ran into the empty road, looking both ways. Left or right? Which way would Steve have turned? Fuck.

 _‘If in doubt’_ Steve murmured in his mind, ‘ _go left’._  That was his stupid saying, wasn’t it?   
Left it was, then.

“STEVE!” He called again, clenching his teeth against the chill, because it was really too fucking cold to be leaving the house with nothing other than a T-shirt on his back. 

He ran down the road as quickly as his un-athletic body would carry him, feeling like he’d never moved as fast as this before in his life. Which was quite possibly true. He’d escaped explosions at a slower pace than this. Priorities, right?

He turned the corner, looking down the street with narrowed eyes and pushing his wonky glasses further up his nose. Fuck fuck fuck fuck, he really hoped Steve hadn’t-

Wait.

There he was. Under the streetlamp at the very bottom of the road, just about to turn the corner and disappear onto the main road.   
Well. Not if Tony had anything to do with it.

“STEEEVE!” Tony yelled as loud as he could, starting up his sprint again and hearing his beat-up sneakers as they scuffed along the road. “STEVE, WAIT UP!”

The figure turned, blond hair flashing under the yellow glow of the streetlight. His shoulders were hunched and his hands stuffed into his pockets, and when his eyes registered Tony, they widened in panic.

He didn’t run away, though, which was definitely a plus. Tony may have been sprinting like it was the final airport scene of some romance film, but he wasn’t a fucking athlete. 

“TONY?” Steve called incredulously, “TONY- Tony what are you doi-”

“I LOVE YOU!” Tony answered through a hysterical little laugh, starting to slow down as he got closer to Steve, “I… I… fuck, need to… catch my breath.”

“You what?” Steve asked blankly, looking a little pale. “What did you just say?”

Tony wheezed, resting his hands on his knees as he held up a finger. Steve waited patiently, feet sticking to their spot as Tony attempted to compose himself a little. When he straightened up again, Steve was eyeing him warily.

“I said,” Tony said, still slightly breathless, but more for a different reason now, “that I love you.”

Steve just blinked at him. Tony giggled. “Yeah, surprised me too. I didn’t… I didn’t know. Until like, five minutes ago. When we kissed.”

“You didn’t know you were in love with me,” Steve said slowly, “how can you not… actually, scrap that, it’s you, of course you could not realize something like-” he broke off for a second, eyes widening and breath stuttering to a halt as the meaning behind Tony’s words finally seemed to sink in. He blinked again. Then snapped his eyes over to Tony’s.

They looked… scared. 

“If this is some sort of joke to try and, I don’t know, try and make this into some big funny charade, you can fuck off, Tony,” he hissed, stepping back and looking pained, “I know- I know you might want to try and forget this happened or make it look funny, but I can’t, okay, I can’t… I can’t do that. I shouldn’t have kissed you, I’m sorry, it was- it was selfish of me, I-”

“What?” Tony cut in, brow furrowing. He waved a hand and shook his head sharply, “Steve, I’m not joking. And I’m really not sorry you kissed me. I-  I mean what I said. 100%.”

Steve stared at him. He looked ready to bolt at any moment, so Tony stumbled forward, taking his hand and holding tight. “Steve,” he said earnestly, voice barely above a whisper, “Steve , I swear. I’ve been… really stupid these past few weeks. I will probably be really stupid for the rest of my life in some way or another. But I mean it when I say I’m in love with you. I don’t… I guess I just never thought about it until now. Never thought it would even be a possibility, ‘cause I mean, you’re  _you_ and I’ve always just been…well, you know what I mean. But then- then you kissed me, and like, normally there are about eight million things happening simultaneously in my head, but right now all I can think about is you. And how much I want to kiss you again.”

Steve was staring down at him like he couldn’t believe his eyes. Tony thought about all the ways Steve had been good to him in the past- the way he’d fixed up the injuries Tony had made himself with unwavering patience, how he’d been willing to drop anything if Tony needed him. The way he’d always had a smile saved for whenever they met up, no matter how bad he’d been feeling. He’d always been so kind. 

Tony wanted to be as good to Steve as Steve was to him.

“Do you mean that?” Steve asked quietly, looking down at their interlocked fingers.

Tony stepped forward again, and his hand rose up to cup around Steve’s jaw, lifting his face slightly. He leaned in on his tiptoes and pressed a small, nervous little kiss into Steve’s mouth. “I promise,” he said, nodding.

Steve stared right into his eyes, then sucked in another breath. “I’ve been in love with you for so long,” he blurted, “I’m not sure I know how not to be.”

“I’m sorry I’m such a dense bastard,” Tony kissed his cheek softly, then evened it out and gave the other one a peck too. For symmetry, you know. “I admit, I’m not going to be good at this. Pepper’s favorite way of describing me is ‘emotionally stunted’, so I mean, you can just guess what that entails-”

“Tony,” Steve laughed a little, and when he shook his head, their noses brushed. Tony was honestly fascinated with the tidal wave of emotions that had suddenly been unlocked that night, because that tiniest touch had managed to short-circuit his entire brain. “I’m your best friend- you think I don’t already know that much?”

Tony giggled a little, and Steve gave their hands a nervous squeeze. He let a hand rest, so very delicately, around the back of Tony’s neck, and Tony looked up at him as Steve’s face grew more earnest, more… adoring. And wasn’t that a trip- how Tony had missed that for so long was utterly confounding, and he was going to go home and kick himself immediately.

Well. After Steve had let go of his hand, anyway. And if he never did, then Tony figured he’d just never go home again. He could live with that happily.

“Can I kiss you?” Steve asked him softly. They were already practically nose-to-nose, though, so Tony didn’t really see why he needed permission.   
He guessed that was just Steve, though.

Tony nodded, and when Steve leaned in this time, Tony was fully prepared for the fireworks that exploded behind his eyes.  

Of course, it didn’t mean it wasn’t any less overwhelming. Steve tasted like Steve, and he kissed in a way only Steve could, and everything about him was so perfect and soft that Tony wanted to melt. He shut his eyes and rested his forearms on Steve’s shoulders as Steve wrapped his own arms around Tony’s waist and cocooned him in warmth. His lips were soft, unchapped, and his mouth moved gently against Tony’s own- different to the first one- less desperation and more warm affection.

It was amazing. It was the best kiss Tony had ever had. 

“Fucking Christ, you’re freezing,” Steve muttered, pulling away for a second, and Tony was man enough he may have whined a little from the loss of contact. Steve still had his arms around Tony, though, so he figured it was acceptable. Just about. “Did you- did you not even think to take a coat? Jesus, it’s the middle of winter, Tony, you’re going to catch a cold!”

Tony sighed, resting his head against Steve’s chest and mumbling “if you hadn’t noticed, I was in rather a rush to stop you leaving. Oh, that reminds me- I owe some girl a hundred dollars for telling me where you’d gone-”

“What?” Steve asked incredulously, jerking a little, “a hundred- tell me you didn’t-”

“I was panicking and wanted to find you!” Tony pouted, “it’s fine, I have a lot of it to go ‘round. Although I must admit, you’re right about the cold thing. I think I’m getting pneumonia.”

Steve laughed quietly, kissing Tony’s temple. “Let’s get back to the party,” he said, thumb rubbing a soft circle against his hip, “I’d rather our first kiss wasn’t also shared with the first time you suffered hypothermia.”

When Steve let go and took his hand again, Tony wrapped his fingers around Steve’s palm and looked up at the other boy, just a little bit incredulous. He couldn’t quite believe what had just happened in the space of ten minutes. It didn’t seem real.   
He was so, so very glad that it was, though.

With a smile that probably looked far too soft on his face, Tony leaned into Steve’s side and decided to add a fourth thing to the List of Things To Know About Tony Stark.

-He was very much in love with Steve Rogers.

 

* * *

 

When Tony walked back in the door, hand-in-hand with Steve,  the entire room exploded into yells and cheering and applause. Steve went an adorable shade of red. Tony just bowed, grinning from ear to ear. “Teamwork!” He called out to the room, and got another round of laughter in response.

“He’s a keeper,” someone leaned in and said to Steve, gesturing over to Tony with an amused grin, “I think anyone who’s willing to climb on a table and declare his love for someone in a party full of teenagers is worth keeping around.”

Steve looked down at Tony with a raised eyebrow, but his smile was ridiculously reverent as he said: “believe me, I know, and I intend to.”

Tony just beamed, and kissed Steve, simply because he could apparently do that now, and Tony was an opportunist like that.

 

Yeah. He figured that was going to be a pretty common occurrence, from here on in.   
Well. There were worse things to be addicted to.


End file.
